What Would YOU Ask United CEO Oscar Munoz?

I’ll soon have a chance to speak to United CEO Oscar Munoz. I have a few questions in mind, but want to give you a chance to help me formulate excellent questions.

Last time I spoke with him, I asked some rather specific MileagePlus questions to which he nicely dodged so I did not press him further. We had a great conversation, but it was really at a superficial level.

This isn’t a formal interview and I do not plan on cornering him. I am certainly not looking to ask “gotcha” questions. But it would be nice to ask a couple insightful questions along with the small talk.

Here are three possible questions I am considering–

What is the primary reason we have not seen any additional Polaris Lounge open since Chicago in December 2016?

Any preliminary thoughts on how the new premium economy class will implicate upgrades from economy class to business class?

Any thoughts on Emirates’ recent announcement of new service from Newark to Dubai?

The last thing he needs is a laundry list of complaints, but I wish he would put the pressure on his IT team to fix the broken website. Booking and changing awards continues to be a painful and arduous process.

If you and Oscar Munoz were having a conversation, what would you ask him?

About Author

Matthew

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he
travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 120
countries over the last decade. Working both in the aviation industry
and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in the New York
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You’re beating a dead horse. Employees begged UAL not to move over from Fastair to Shares and it fell on deaf ears…….they (Continental) kept reassuring us it would be easy (“like the old Apollo”). Why would they ever think we would want or need to go from a windows display back to a black and green DOS screen, setting us back at least ten years at the time of the merger (2012) ? Needless to say it was a complete nightmare/ disaster and frankly, still is. The IT guy at UAL who spoke up against it originally was basically told to take a hike. The rest is history – still ongoing.

I’m really curious why he hasn’t been out in the open much ever since the Dao incident, especially compared to when he first became CEO at UA. I think the most likely reasoning is that after his awful first response to the Dao situation, UA is now just trying to keep him out of the public eye until they can get rid of him for an “early retirement,” or something. Its looking more and more like Scott Kirby will be the new CEO of united in not too long.

I don’t think its intentional per se, I think he’s been very visible with front line employees which is the real reason the UA board keeps him around. He’s the first UA CEO in 2o years, maybe ever that the front line staff absolutely love. He’s a rock star and if you notice while his ‘response’ (because let’s be honest, UA PR wrote that or signed off on it, not him) was frowned upon publicly, what it did was offer 100% support to the front line. Something they’ve never had before. Kirby was ‘signed’ from AA to succeed Oscar and given his health scare that wasn’t a bad move, but don’t be surprised if Andrew Levy or Kate Gebo get mentioned as possible successors for Oscar.

Why do they not offer a credit card in Mexico for those who don’t have astronomical salaries, given that both AA and DL have cards that require an income of 12-15k MXN, while the UA card requires 50-80k depending on flavor?

1.) Friendless of a flight crew has a tendency to make up for a lot of other problems that occur in air travel. Anecdotally, US flight attendants (including United) have a bad reputation. Has there, or will there be, any changes that training or points of emphasis to get United cabin crews to be at the level of, let’s say, Virgin Atlantic, Qatar Airways, or Singapore Airlines?

2.) Are all pending 787 orders going to maintain the existing 787 business class seats? If so, why? Will the A350-900 aircraft come with the Polaris hard product?

3.) Other than stock buybacks, what concrete steps will be taken to increase earnings per share?

4.) In hindsight, does United wish it maintained a presence at JFK?

5.) Delta’s CEO committed to a minimum seat pitch of 31”. Can United commit to a minimum seat pitch, and width for that matter? (Followed up by asking what the longest flight he has taken in economy on the 777-300ER).

6.) American Airlines has rolled out numerous Flagship First lounges at its hubs and has installed premium economy in existing aircraft at an impressive pace. Why did United failed to open a single Polaris Lounge in 2017? Will United be able to install Premium Plus seats at a rate competitive with American’s turnaround to date?

7.) Does United have an opinion on steps the industry (and government) should take to crackdown on abuses of emotional support animals?

8.) Will United take steps to revise its inter-line agreement with Delta?

9.) When will the former Continental and United flight attendants all be under one system and one collective bargaining agreement?

10.) Do you ever want to pretend you were on mute during an earnings call?

Does he view Saaver award availability as a diferentiator between United and Delta/AA/etal? In my experience United has been marginally better than its top two competitors, but they could still do a lot more.

What is the argument against making more redemptions available in cases where cheap ticket prices would let UA retire those miles at attractive rates anyway (say <1.5 cents/pt)?

You’re in a tough spot because most CEO’s won’t be able to discuss ‘in the weeds’ issues we’d all like to hear about and high level exciting stuff will just be brushed off or talked around for fear of market signalling.

The Polaris disaster, I was told, was because they really underestimated the demand for the lounge and had to expand the Chicago lounge to add more seats and subsequently had to redesign all of the other lounges that were planned.

He won’t answer number 2 even if he knew the answer but I’d be shocked if he has that level of detail at all. I would like to know more about that product, timing, amenities, etc.

Number 3 is a great question but other than saying something like ‘we will compete with everyone’ you’re not going to get a serious, insightful answer. But you already know this.

In the January issue of Hemisphere, Oscar Munoz boasted unprecedented on-time performance, among other accomplishments he listed. I would like to ask Mr. Munoz three questions: 1) Is he aware that accomplishment was achieved at least in part at the expense of some passengers? 2) Would he commit to training all gate agents to exercise prudence and treat passengers with care? 3) Would he reduce the “official” boarding cutoff time for small regional jets (50 seats or fewer) back to the 10-minutes prior to departure (as it had been for all domestic flights until recently)? As a 1K Premier member, I was denied boarding on a connecting United Express flight in Houston in December. My incoming flight was delayed initially due to ground stop in Houston and suffered a further 12-minute delay on the tarmac after touchdown in Houston because another plane was occupying the gate. I bolted out of the plane and ran as fast as I could to the connecting gate within the same terminal B. The flight was scheduled to depart at 9:50 PM. I got to the internal control gate area at 9:39 PM but I was denied passage to the actual B1 gate. No matter how much I pleaded, the internal control gate agents pointed to the Customer Service desk since it was the last flight of the day. The flight posted a departure time of 9:44 PM. The next flight was 12 hours later. This caused me to miss half-day of work. I have actually sat on the same flight a couple of times before and the flight attendant announced that we were waiting for transfer passengers. However, in my case, instead of waiting for me (which would not have caused the flight on the 50-passenger Embraer ERJ-145 to depart late), the flight departed six minutes ahead of schedule without all ticketed passengers on-board. What was even more aggravating was that when I asked the gate agent at my arrival gate (B11) to inform the gate agent at B1, she refused; instead, she told me “they know I am coming.” Before that, while my plane sat on the tarmac at IAH waiting for the other plane to leave our designated gate, I called the 1K desk and asked the agent to call gate B1; the agent came back on the line several minutes later and told me no one answered the phone. The gate agents that night could have exercised due diligence and prudence instead of ending the boarding process prematurely. After last April’s headline incident, I am shocked and disappointed to experience and find the attitude of United gate agents to be such that it is still no big deal to displace passengers (no matter the status) to the next flight to serve their purpose, even when the next flight is a half-day later.

The retrofit time line of the 777-200 with 2-4-2 business configuration seems to be a too long of a timeline. Would you consider blocking all the center and window seats so passengers can have more space and aisle access to remain competitive.

Why is United so tight with confirming Global Premier Upgrades now? In years past all of my GPUs would clear, often at time of booking or at least a few days prior to travel. In 2017 they were treated like “standby” upgrades like non-revs would get. Only 3 of my 6 GPUs cleared in 2017 and now 3 are about to expire. I understand that revenue sales of business/first is higher due to the economy. But when looking at flights months in advance where the seat map shows EVERY seat is available and there is zero R (ie upgradeable) class space that tells me that United is artificially holding back redemptions. Yes, it’s their prerogative but the result is that they have diluted the value of GPUs that ostensibly were earned by fliers who were loyal to United. United should hold up their end of the bargain and release more space. Frankly, I am less motivated to re-qualify in 2018 than at any other time.

How does United plan to address the replacement long-term of the CRJ and also increase the overall passenger capacity of their regional jets given the strategic plan they just outlined? (Delta has already come up with a plan.)

A what point will the “densifying” stop. 777’s with 10 abreast 17″ wide seats and 31″ pitch on long-haul aircraft is a miserable experience. 737’s are universally terrible and 757’s no better. Do any of their executives ever fly on these seats to experience that they’re doing to travelers? I’m 6’6″ tall and not overweight. If I get stuck next to a fat guy overflowing in his seat, it’s a miserable flight. Seat width is what I really care about and 18″+ seats make all the difference. I can’t afford to fly business or first class and and EconPlus usually only gets me about 3-4″ of extra legroom. I’d pay a reasonable upgrade price for Premium Economy but it’s not worth 50-100% more. Isn’t there a market to be served here with offering better comfort without charging a fortune. Surely there are many people who may wish to do a little work on their computer and there’s no way it can be done with these 17″ seats. I don’t care as much about fancy food, free cocktails, and amenity kits. Just give me a not-uncomfortable seat and get me there on-time. Delta seems much more focused on this and Delta’s many Airbus, and soon Bombardier C series, will help them further.

When will we see the day when highest level elites, plat and 1k, or just the latter, receive complimentary internet on all flights?
Access to ua lounges for all 1k’s would also seem a no-brainer, no matter whether flight is domestic or intl.

When will UA recognize that the long nonstop EWR to HNL deserves an upgrade to Polaris in service and amenities?
Why is C-3 at EWR taking so long to reopen and what is,the act plan for that space?
When will EWR again have more than 1 (smallish ) United Clubs?

What is the top 1-2 things that he believes can improve in-flight service by cabin crew?
What is the top 1-2 things that his cabin crews tell him that they need to improve in-flight service?
What are the top 1-2 things he believes United should do DIFFERENTLY than American & Delta — and NOT copy-cat them in order to better differentiate United from them?

– Right now, the 2-4-2 business configuration is simply uncompetitive with others’ business class hard product, especially non-US airlines that generally have a better soft product as well? Do you have plans to accelerate the retrofit of existing aircraft to new Polaris seating to compete more effectively?

– Anecdotally, United is always more expensive for ORD-BOM and LAX-BOM (via EWR) in paid business class than other carriers, including Lufthansa, Swiss, Air Canada, etc? Why?

– Why do you think United is able to maintain nonstop flights from EWR to India (BOM and DEL) when no other US-based airline has been able to do so?

– It was publicly admitted that passengers booked away from United due to Basic Economy, and you rolled back Basic Economy for the most expensive fares. Do you still think that Basic Economy was a good idea, given the public pushback and attrition in passenger loyalty to United?

– When another full-service carrier is offering a non-Basic Economy fare on a domestic route that’s $100 cheaper than United’s Basic Economy fare, why does United hold its pricing high? Do you think anyone will pay more for an inferior (Basic Economy) product? (Example: AA or VX for SFO-ORD)

– You have made front-line employees feel as though you’re on their side, which is fantastic. Do you think that has resulted in better customer service? What are your plans to improve customer service? (Example: you now offer San Pellegrino on United Polaris, but an FA said “fine, I guess I’ll go get it” after she brought me club soda. This was an $8,000 ticket.)

– Why are the full-service check-in desks (especially Economy, but even Premier Access) so understaffed at major hubs such as ORD and SFO?

Mr. Muñoz, can you help me understand why after I’ve earned an award like a GPU that I only have a certain amount of time to use it and if I don’t I lose that EARNED reward. Why am I penalized after being so loyal?

Yes! Ask him when he will fix the GPU/RPU problem. I tried using a RPU 5 times without any luck. Now, it expires tomorrow. For every time a GPU/RPU doesn’t clear, the expiration month should be extended a month…and if it doesn’t clear for a friend without status, they should be able to have a seat in Economy Plus.

I’d ask him how he plans to address United’s service culture so that customers can expect the uniformly high levels of service that once was a hallmark of US carriers and is today of many international airlines. I’m not suggesting that they need to have showers etc but rather that the levels of service need to be uniform and appropriate to the class of service.

I agree with your observation about the website and have had similar clunky experiences w/awards. Perhaps it would be possible to phrase a more general question about tech adoption? In addition to streamlining and personalizing experiences for individuals/elites, is UA using technology to better manage relationships with corporations/groups/specific contracts? Having a reliable system in place where travelers within a specific group (some of whom have negotiated special perks/bag waivers/special assistance) can be immediately and absolutely identified from point of check-in onward (seamlessly, without relying on an agent to dig deeper into SHARES/Aero) could improve corporate traveler experience, corporate client satisfaction, and also provide UA with potentially useful data. While I believe UA has been working on something along these lines in theory, are there any plans for implementation?

Ask him why United has dozens of ticket offices internationally (especially in Mexico)?….and even in Penn Station in NYC? Don’t people have the internet there (and other international ticket offices). People don’t need ticket offices, they do everything online. Talk about costly (staffing and real estate).

Please ask about the monetization of first class. Specifically, he knows United is selling upgrades to everyone at check-in rather than honoring its advertised benefit of unlimited complimentary upgrades. But couldn’t United at least offer 1Ks, Platinum, Golds, and Silvers the opportunity to purchase an upgrade before the general public? For example, allow Premiers to purchase upgrades 48 hours prior to departure.

I read somewhere that United was considering this idea a while back. Yet nothing apparently came from it. United should either deliver on its upgrade benefits promises or change its advertising.

1) Passengers continue to sense the ex-Con/ex-UA status differences still associated with the merger, and are also aware when they spill into the public eye, most recently obvious with the ex-UA FA petition. What are his own 2018 targets towards resolving those lingering cultural conflicts, and building the “United” (and not Continental) brand?

2) What is United doing in 2018 to defend its Pacific leadership against Delta’s growing Pacific reach out of LAX and SEA? Is the Coliseum sponsorship designed to signal re-investment in LAX as a true hub?